Modular data center

ABSTRACT

A modular data center includes a plurality of first containers and a plurality of second containers. The plurality of first containers and second containers are partitioned into a plurality of functional modules respectively, the functional modules of the plurality of first containers being arranged in parallel, and the functional modules of the plurality of second containers being arranged in parallel on one side of the plurality of first containers and corresponding to the functional modules of the plurality of first containers respectively. The present disclosure combines the functional modules of the plurality of first containers and the plurality of second containers into modular data centers with different forms, capacities, and data center usability tiers, and the assembly of the plurality of first containers and second containers with standardized sizes may facilitate the transportation and reduce the time and cost of assembling and delivery of the modular data center.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION

This Application claims priority to and is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/800,464 filed on 15 Jul. 2015, entitled “MODULARDATA CENTER,” which claims foreign priority to Chinese PatentApplication No. 201410339826.0 filed on 16 Jul. 2014, entitled “ModularData Center,” which applications are hereby incorporated by reference intheir entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the technical field of data centers,and, more particularly, to a modular data center.

BACKGROUND

Internet service providers, enterprise users, research institutes, andthe like, have a high demand for computers, and a working platform thatcarries the demands for storage, computation, and network is a datacenter. The data center is equipped with relevant computer devices, andthese devices need a large amount of electrical power and correspondingphysical spaces for accommodating mechanical and electrical devices aswell as other ICT (Information Communication Technology) relateddevices, e.g., electronic computers, information processing devices,communication devices, and so on. The data center includes lots of heatgenerating components, including a variety of AC, DC power sources,CPUs, chip circuits, and so on. Generally, the heat generated by aserver may be 250-350 W, and the power consumption of a rack loaded withservers may be up to 8-10 kW, so that the power consumption is enormous.

The implementation of the data center includes two parts, building andmachinery & electronics. A whole delivery process encompasses proceduressuch as consultation, design, bidding, building construction, mechanicaland electrical device installation, and system debugging. Normally, ittakes roughly one year and a half to build a 1000 m² data center onleveled land. In some cases, if there is a need for increasing the loadcapacity of the machinery & electronics and the data center at a certainposition of the finished data center, it may probably take several moremonths to implement, and most of the time is spent on the design andconstruction, such as the laying of pipelines, cables, racks, coolingsystem, installation and debugging of relevant devices, and acceptance.

Therefore, current data centers are challenged by the fact that thedesign of each data center takes a long time and standardize the processthroughout the construction to the mechanical and electrical design isdifficult. Although a quick deployment may be implemented by using acontainer-type data center, in most design cases, it is still necessaryto arrange maintenance of door opening on the body of the container.Therefore, in general, a distance between each or several containers ofthe same type will be increased, which results in the problems withlarge coverage area, a long connection distance of pipelines between thecontainer modules, and increased on-site work load and costs.

In addition, the current container-type data center usually adopts asimple design and technique, which is difficult to be compatible withdifferent distribution architectures. In general, a 40 ft containerinstalled with an electrical power device only and integrated withcorresponding input and output distribution, UPS, transformer, and soon, merely provides a power of 500 kW at the maximum. Moreover, in termsof the maintenance space for a large-scale electrical device, it isdifficult to implement a large-capacity cluster deployment for thecontainer. Meanwhile, each data center unit of the container-type datacenter needs to be physically isolated, and each data center has aphysical distance from each other data centers, and it is difficult toimplement a stacked layout of the refrigeration chilled water host, sothat the plane layout occupies a large area. Moreover, in case of alarge-scale data center layout, the distance between the modules and thedata center is increased, which makes the area occupied by the datacenter too large and not cost effective.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify all key featuresor essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intendedto be used alone as an aid in determining the scope of the claimedsubject matter. The term “technique(s) or technical solution(s)” forinstance, may refer to apparatus(s), system(s), method(s) and/orcomputer-readable instructions as permitted by the context above andthroughout the present disclosure.

The technical problem to be solved by the present disclosure is toprovide a data center, wherein, by partitioning a plurality of firstcontainers and a plurality of second containers into differentfunctional modules respectively and by combining the functional modules,the modular data center is capable to implement a quick capacityexpansion or change of data center usability tiers according to the userequirement, and the interior space of the modular data center iseffectively used via the inter-communication among different functionalmodules after the combination, which thus solves the technical problemsof slow construction speed, difficulty in capacity expansion, and overlylarge site area in terms of the data center.

To solve the above problem, the present disclosure discloses a modulardata center, which includes a plurality of first containers and aplurality of second containers, wherein the plurality of firstcontainers are partitioned into a plurality of information technologydevice modules, a plurality of space maintenance modules, and at leastone distribution module, and the plurality of information technologydevice modules, the plurality of space maintenance modules, and thedistribution module are arranged in parallel in a width direction of thefirst containers. For example, the arrangement herein may refer to aplacement or an installation of the containers. The width of the secondcontainers is identical to or substantially the same as those of thefirst containers, and a length of the second containers are smaller thanthose the first containers. The plurality of second containers arepartitioned into a plurality of power supply modules, a plurality offire-fighting modules, and at least one passage module, which arearranged in parallel in the width direction of the first containers onone side of the plurality of first containers respectively, and in thelength direction of the first containers, the plurality of power supplymodules correspond to the plurality of information technology devicemodules respectively, the plurality of fire-fighting modules correspondto the plurality of space maintenance modules respectively, and thepassage module corresponds to the distribution module. The interiorspaces of the plurality of information technology device modules areconnected with those of the plurality of space maintenance modules, andan air inlet and an air outlet are arranged between the informationtechnology device modules and the distribution module. The informationtechnology device modules are connected with the distribution modulethrough the air inlet and the air outlet.

The present disclosure further discloses a modular data center, whichincludes a plurality of first containers and a plurality of secondcontainers. The plurality of first containers are partitioned into aplurality of information technology device modules, a plurality of spacemaintenance modules, and at least one distribution module, and theplurality of information technology device modules, the plurality ofspace maintenance modules, and the distribution module are arranged inparallel in a width direction of the first containers, wherein theplurality of information technology device modules, the plurality ofspace maintenance modules, and the distribution module, which arearranged in parallel, form a data center unit. In the plurality of firstcontainers, a plurality of data center units is formed in accordancewith the quantity of the plurality of first containers. The width of thesecond containers is identical to or substantially the same as that ofthe first containers, and the length of the second containers is smallerthan that of the first containers. The plurality of second containersare partitioned into a plurality of passage modules, and the pluralityof passage modules are arranged in parallel in the width direction ofthe first containers among the plurality of data center units, andcorresponds to the plurality of first containers respectively in thelength direction of the first containers. The interior spaces of theplurality of passages are connected to form a maintenance passage amongthe plurality of data center units, and the maintenance passage is alsoconnected with the interior spaces of the plurality of informationtechnology device modules, the plurality of space maintenance modules,and the distribution module respectively.

Compared with conventional techniques, the present disclosure mayacquire the following technical advantages.

By assembling the standardized first containers and second containerswith different lengths into prefabricated functional modules ofdifferent types and capacities, a simple on-site combination of theoverall architecture of the modular data center may be implemented toimprove the construction speed of the modular data center. Moreover,partitioning the first containers into the space maintenance modules andpartitioning the second containers into the fire-fighting module and thepassage module may solve the problems with maintenance of a largecapacity mechanical and electrical system, fire compartment, and amaintenance passage at the same time. In the meantime, the arrangementof sharing a space maintenance module and a passage module in themodular data center supports a transverse capacity expansion of themodular data center after the combination and reduces the occupied area.At the same time, different functional modules as partitioned in theplurality of first containers and the plurality of second containersalso support a vertical deployment mode as well, which further reducesthe area occupied by the modular data center. Based on the abovedescription, the modular data center of the present disclosure mayachieve the flexibility in changing capacities, data center usabilitytiers, and quantity of the server cabinets as well as stacking ortransverse connection.

Furthermore, the plurality of first containers and the plurality ofsecond containers in the present disclosure are partitioned into avariety of functional modules formed by different electrical,refrigeration, fire-fighting technique, and information technologydevices, so that the modular data center of the present disclosure maybe further compatible with different distribution solutions andrefrigeration techniques.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings described herein are used to provide a furtherunderstanding of the present disclosure and constitute a part of thepresent disclosure. The example embodiments and the description thereofin the present disclosure are used to explain the present disclosure anddo not constitute an improper limit on the scope of the presentdisclosure. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a modular data centeraccording to a first example embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the modular data center according tothe first example embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of first containers and the secondcontainers which are arranged by each other according to another exampleembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the first containers and thesecond containers which are arranged near each other according to thefirst example embodiment of the present disclosure from another angle ofview.

FIG. 5 is a schematic side view of the modular data center according tothe first example embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6a is a schematic perspective view of an information technologydevice module of the modular data center according to the first exampleembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6b is a schematic perspective view of a distribution module of themodular data center according to the first example embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 6c is a schematic perspective view of a space maintenance module ofthe modular data center according to the first example embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 7a is a schematic perspective view of a power supply module of themodular data center according to the first example embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 7b is a schematic perspective view of a fire-fighting module of themodular data center according to the first example embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 7c is a schematic perspective view of a passage module of themodular data center according to the first example embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view of the modular data centeraccording to the first example embodiment of the present disclosureafter an addition of the distribution module.

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view of a water fire-fighting moduleof the modular data center according to some example embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view of the modular data centeraccording to example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is schematic side view of a modular data center according to asecond example embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a schematic perspective view of a precision air conditioningmodule of the modular data center according to the second exampleembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a schematic side view of a modular data center according to athird example embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is a schematic top view of the modular data center according tothe third example embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 is a schematic top view of a modular data center according toother embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The implementation of the present disclosure will be set forth in detailin the following with reference to the accompanying drawings and theexample embodiments, so that the implementation process of how thepresent disclosure uses the techniques to solve the technical problemand achieve the technical effect may be understood and implementedaccordingly.

Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims,which refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art willappreciate that hardware manufacturers may refer to the same componentby different names. The specification and the claims do not intend todistinguish components that differ in name but not in function. Instead,the specification and the claims distinguish components based on theirfunctionalities. As mentioned throughout the specification and claims,the term “including” or “comprising” or their variations are used as anopen-ended term, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, butnot limited to.” The term “substantially” or its variation refers to inan acceptable error range, and those skilled in the art are capable tosolve the technical problem and substantially achieve the technicaleffect in a certain error range. Moreover, the terms “couple” and“electrically connect” herein include either a direct or an indirectelectrical coupling technique. Thus, if a first apparatus couples to asecond apparatus herein, it indicates that the first apparatus maycouple to the second apparatus through a direct electrical coupling, orthrough an indirect electrical coupling via other apparatus and couplingtechniques. The example embodiments for implementing the presentdisclosure are described in the specification in the following, but thedescription is still only for the purpose of explaining the generalprinciple of the present disclosure and is not intended to limit thescope of the present disclosure. The protection scope of the presentdisclosure shall be based on the claims of the present disclosure.

It should be noted that the term “including,” “comprising,” or anyvariation thereof refers to non-exclusive inclusion so that a process,method, product, or device that includes a plurality of elements doesnot only include the plurality of elements but also any other elementthat is not expressly listed, or any element that is essential orinherent for such process, method, product, or device. Without morerestriction, the elements defined by the phrase “including a . . . ”does not exclude that the process, method, product, or device includesanother same element in addition to the elements.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 5, the modular data center 10 disclosed inthe first example embodiment of the present disclosure includes aplurality of first containers 110, a plurality of second containers 120,and a refrigeration unit 130.

The first containers 110 and the second containers 120 may be, but arenot limited to, standard containers or steel frames having the samesize. In the example embodiment, the first containers 110 and the secondcontainers 120, which are standard containers of different sizes, areused as an example, wherein the first containers 110 and the secondcontainers 120 have the same or substantially the same width, and thelength of the first containers 110 is greater than that of the secondcontainers 120. For example, the first containers 110 are 40 ft standardcontainers, while the second containers 120 are 10 ft standardcontainers, and the length of the first containers 110 is multiple timesof that of the second containers 120.

In addition, in the example embodiment, the plurality of firstcontainers 110 and the plurality of second containers 120 are furtherpartitioned into different functional modules according to differentapparatuses or devices arranged therein. For example, some firstcontainers 110, in which an IT (information technology) device 20 (forexample, a server cabinet) is installed, are partitioned intoinformation technology device modules 111 (as shown in FIG. 6a ). Somefirst containers 110, in which an electrical device 30 such as atransformer, a low-voltage distribution cabinet, a power compensationcabinet, and an ATS (automatic transfer switch) cabinet is installed,are partitioned into a distribution module 112 (as shown in FIG. 6b ).Some first containers 110 whose interior spaces are not used arepartitioned into a space maintenance module 113 (as shown in FIG. 6c ),which are to be used as a maintenance passage of ICT (InformationCommunication Technology) device or a mechanical and electrical device,an access passage to the modular data center 10 or an isolated passageamong different zones, etc.

Therefore, in the example embodiment, the plurality of first containers110 are partitioned into a plurality of information technology devicemodules 111, a plurality of space maintenance modules 113, and at leastone distribution module 112, wherein the plurality of informationtechnology device modules 111, the plurality of space maintenancemodules 113, and the distribution module 112 are arranged in parallel inthe width direction of the first containers 110 respectively. Forexample, the plurality of space maintenance modules 113 are arranged inthe width direction on two opposite sides of the plurality ofinformation technology device modules 111 respectively, so that theplurality of information technology device modules 111 are centralized,and the interior spaces of the plurality of information technologydevice modules 111 are connected with those of the plurality of spacemaintenance modules 113. The distribution module 112 is arranged on theother side of the space maintenance modules 113 opposite to theinformation technology device modules 111, so that the space maintenancemodules 113 on the same side as the information technology devicemodules 111 are just located between the distribution module 112 and theinformation technology device module 111. Moreover, in terms ofsecurity, a fire barrier 140 may be further installed inside the firstcontainers 110, for physically isolating the zones where differentfunctional modules are arranged. For example, the fire barrier 140 maybe installed between the distribution module 112 and the informationtechnology device modules 111 (as shown in FIG. 4) for isolating thedistribution module 112 from the information technology device modules111.

The plurality of second containers 120 are partitioned into a pluralityof power supply modules 121, a plurality of fire-fighting modules 122,and at least one passage module 123. The power supply modules 121 aresome of the second containers 120, in which a power device 40 such as aUPS (uninterruptible power supply) input and output cabinet, a batteryswitch, and a battery is installed (as shown in FIG. 7a ). Thefire-fighting modules 122 are some of the second containers 120, inwhich a gas fire-fighting device 50 is installed among the plurality ofsecond containers 120 (as shown in FIG. 7b ). The passage module 123 areone or more of the second containers 120 whose interior spaces are notused (as shown in FIG. 7c ), which is to be used as a maintenancepassage of the ICT (Information Communication Technology) device or themechanical and electrical device, an access passage to the modular datacenter 10 or an isolated passage among different zones, or the like, andfunctions similarly as the space maintenance modules 113.

The plurality of second containers 120 are arranged in parallel in thewidth direction of the first containers 110 on one side of the pluralityof first containers 110 respectively, and in a length direction of thefirst containers 110, the plurality of power supply modules 121 arecombined respectively and correspondingly with the plurality ofinformation technology device modules 111. The plurality offire-fighting modules 122 are combined respectively and correspondinglywith the plurality of space maintenance modules 113. The passage module123 is combined correspondingly with the distribution module 112. Forexample, the distribution module 112 is capable to support a 2000 kWpower distribution capacity, and the power supply module 121 is capableto support a 300-400 kW power distribution capacity, so that the modulardata center 10 may provide a distributed power supply through the changein the quantity and arrangement positions of the distribution module 112and the power supply modules 121, thereby improving the overall powercapacity. Moreover, through the coordination of the distribution module112 and the space maintenance module 113, for example, through thearrangement of a uninterruptible power supply, battery, and the like inan idle space between the distribution module 112 and the spacemaintenance module 113 that are connected with each other, a centralizedpower distribution is achieved.

As shown in FIG. 5, an air inlet 1111 and an air outlet 1112 areinstalled between the information technology device modules 111 and thepower supply modules 121, and the information technology device modules111 are further provided with a hot air passage 1113 and a cold airpassage 1114. The hot air passage 1113 and the cold air passage 1114 arearranged on the top and bottom of the information technology devicemodules 111 respectively, and correspond to the air outlet 1112 and theair inlet 1111 respectively, so that the information technology devicemodule 111 is connected with the interior space of the power supplymodules 121 through the air inlet 1111 and the air outlet 1112, so thatthe cold air generated by the refrigeration unit 130, after beingtransmitted through the cold air passage 1114 (as indicated by the arrowin the cold air passage 1114 as shown FIG. 5), enters the power supplymodule 121 via the air inlet 1111 and, after the hot air inside thepower supply module 121 enters the hot air passage 1113 via the airoutlet 1112 (as indicated by the arrow in the air outlet 1112 as shownin FIG. 5), the hot air is transmitted to the refrigeration unit 130through the hot air passage 1113 for a cooling procedure.

Please refer to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 5, the refrigeration unit 130includes a plurality of refrigeration modules 131, an air return pipe132, and an air supply pipe 133. The refrigeration modules 131 may be,but is not limited to, an air handling unit (AHU), which is capable tosupport the air-cooled or chilled water refrigeration technique and, forexample, may support heat exchange with a 100-500 kW capacity. Theplurality of refrigeration modules 131 are arranged at an interval onthe plurality of first containers 110, and correspond to a plurality ofinformation technology device modules 111 respectively. Eachrefrigeration module 131 includes an air return inlet 1311 and an airvent 1312, wherein one end of the air return pipe 132 is connected tothe air return inlet 1311 of the plurality of refrigeration modules 131,and the other end is connected to the hot air passage 1113 of theplurality of information technology device modules 111. One end of theair supply pipe 133 is connected to the air vent 1312 of the pluralityof refrigeration modules 131, and the other end is connected to the coldair passage 1114 of the plurality of information technology devicemodules 111. Thus, the plurality of refrigeration modules 131 supply thecold air into each information technology device module 111 through theair supply pipe 133, and the cold air is transmitted into other modulesthrough the air inlet arranged between the information technology devicemodules 111 and other modules. Through the hot air passage 1113 of theinformation technology device modules 111, the hot air generated in thefirst containers 110 is transmitted to the air return pipe 132, so thatthe hot air is transmitted into the refrigeration module 131collectively through the air return pipe 132 for a heat exchangeprocedure.

It is worth noting that the first containers and the second containersof the modular data center of the present disclosure may both adoptstandard containers or steel frames steel frames having the same size,which may acquire a modular data center having different capacities,different data center usability tiers and different server cabinet powerdensities through a flexible combination of the first containers and thesecond containers of different quantities and with different functions,and thus the modular data center is not limited to those formed inaccordance with the arrangements of the above example embodiments. Byflexibly combining the functional modules formed by the first containersand the second containers according to the use requirement, theconstruction speed of the modular data center may be accelerated througha standardized design and fabrication.

As shown in FIG. 8, for example, the distribution module 112 and itscorresponding passage module 123 may be added in the existing modulardata center 10 to change the data center usability tiers of the modulardata center 10. Since the distribution module 112 is one of the firstcontainers 110 in which the electrical devices such as a transformer, alow-voltage distribution cabinet, a power compensation cabinet, and anautomatic transfer switch cabinet are pre-integrated, during theassembling, the design of the data center usability tiers may be changedjust by arranging the additional distribution module 112 in parallel inposition according to the use requirement. In other words, the capacityof the modular data center 10 may be expanded by increasing thequantities of the parallel information technology device modules 111,space maintenance modules 113, or distribution module 112 and thequantities of the corresponding power supply module 121, fire-fightingmodule 122, or passage module 123 in the width direction of the firstcontainers 110 and the second containers 120, which is a simpleoperation.

In addition, in order to improve the convenience and flexibility in theassembling of the modular data center, in some example embodiments ofthe present disclosure, the modular data center may further includes atleast one third container. The third container adopts a standardcontainer or a steel frame having the same size. For example, the widthof the third container is identical to or substantially the same as thatof the first containers, but the length of the third container isbetween that of the first containers and that of the second containers,such as a 20 ft standard container. The length of the third containermay be equal to the width of the first containers and two times thelength of the second containers, so that the third container may replacetwo second containers in the arrangement, thereby reducing theassembling time of the functional modules. For example, a thirdcontainer 150 may be a fire-fighting module 151 equipped with a waterfire-fighting device 60 (as shown in FIG. 9), and thus may selectivelyreplace two fire-fighting modules provided with a gas fire-fightingdevice among the plurality of second containers which are arranged inparallel.

As shown in FIG. 10, in addition to expanding the capacity in the widthdirection, the capacity of the modular data center 10 may further beexpanded in the vertical direction by stacking the plurality of firstcontainers 110 and the second containers 120. For example, the pluralityof information technology device modules 111, the plurality of spacemaintenance modules 113, and the distribution module 112 which arearranged in parallel are formed in the plurality of first containers110, and the plurality of power supply modules 121, the fire-fightingmodule 122, and the passage module 123 which are arranged in parallelare formed in the plurality of second containers 120. Then the pluralityof first containers 110 are stacked in row fashion in the heightdirection of the first containers 110, and the plurality of secondcontainers 120 are correspondingly arranged on one side of the pluralityof first containers 110 by stacking in row fashion and correspond to thefirst containers 110 respectively. Thus, the capacity of the modulardata center 10 is expanded in the vertical direction, which reduces thearea occupied by the modular data center 10.

Please refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, additionally, in consideration of theperiodic maintenance, the maintenance space modules 113 partitioned inthe first containers 110 and the passage module 123 partitioned in thesecond containers 120 allow operators to access the informationtechnology device modules 111, the distribution module 112, the powersupply module 121, or the fire-fighting module 122 through themaintenance space module 113 and the passage module 123 to carry outrelevant maintenance operation on the devices. At the same time, one ormore surfaces of the modules may accept open design so that each moduleis connected. In addition, through the arrangement of the fire barrier140, one or more surfaces of the modules may be isolated from eachother, thereby providing a physical isolation for different functionzones in the modular data center 10. For example, the interior spaces ofthe parallel second containers 120 adopt the open design and theinterior spaces of the parallel second containers 120 are connected sothat in the parallel second containers 120, in addition to thecorresponding uninterruptible power supply, battery and fire-fightingdevice, there is enough space to be used as an operation space fordevice maintenance and a maintenance passage for operators. Thus theinterior space of the modular data center 10 may be effectivelyutilized, and the area occupied by the modular data center may befurther reduced.

As shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, the second example embodiment and thefirst example embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure aresubstantially identical in terms of the structure, and they differ inthat some of the plurality of second containers 120 of the data center10 as disclosed in the second example embodiment of the presentdisclosure are further partitioned into a plurality of precision airconditioning modules 124, so that the arrangement of the refrigerationmodule may be selectively omitted.

The precision air conditioning modules 124 are some of the secondcontainers 120 equipped with the air-cooled or chilled water type heatexchange device 70, and, for example, are capable to support the heatexchange with a 40-150 kW capacity. The plurality of precision airconditioning modules 124 are arranged in parallel on the other side ofthe plurality of information technology device modules 111 opposite tothe plurality of power supply modules 121, and correspond to theplurality of information technology device modules 111 respectively, sothat the precision air conditioning modules 124 and the power supplymodules 121 are arranged on two opposite sides of the informationtechnology device modules 111 in the length direction of the informationtechnology device modules 111 respectively. The precision airconditioning modules 124 are equipped with an air vent 1241 and an airreturn inlet 1242. The air vent 1241 is connected to the cold airpassage 1114 of the information technology device modules 111, so thatthe precision air conditioning modules 124 may supply cold air into theinformation technology device modules 111 through the air vent 1241. Theair return inlet 1242 is connected to the hot air passage 1113 of theinformation technology device 111, so that the hot air inside the hotair passage 1113 may enter, through the air return inlet 1242, theprecision air conditioning modules 124 for a heat exchange. Thus thecold air and the hot air may circulate inside the modular data center10, and the devices inside the modular data center 10 may operate underan appropriate temperature.

As shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14, the modular data center 10 as disclosedin the third example embodiment of the present disclosure includes aplurality of first containers 110 and a plurality of second containers120, and the plurality of first containers 110 are partitioned into aplurality of information technology device modules 111, a plurality ofspace maintenance modules 113, and at least one distribution module 112,wherein the arrangement of the plurality of information technologydevice modules 111, the plurality of space maintenance modules 113, andthe distribution module 112 is identical to or substantially the same asthat in the first example embodiment. The difference lies in that theplurality of information technology device modules 111, the plurality ofspace maintenance modules 113, and the distribution module 112 which arearranged in parallel in the example embodiment form the data center unit160, and in the plurality of first containers 110, a plurality of datacenter units 160 are formed according to the quantity of the firstcontainers 110.

Furthermore, in the example embodiment, the plurality of secondcontainers are partially or totally partitioned into the passage modules123 for use, and the plurality of passage modules 123 are arranged inparallel in the width direction of the first containers among theplurality of data center units 160 (as shown in FIG. 15), for examplebetween two data center units 160 (as shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14), andcorrespond to the plurality of first containers 110 in the lengthdirection of the first containers 110 respectively. The interior spacesof the plurality of passage modules 123 are connected, thereby forming amaintenance passage between two data center units 160, and themaintenance passage is connected with the interior space of theplurality of information technology device modules 111, the plurality ofspace maintenance modules 113, and the distribution module 112respectively. Thus the operators may carry out the maintenance on therelevant devices through the maintenance passage.

Likewise, with respect to the refrigeration mode of the modular datacenter 10 in the example embodiment, the refrigeration unit 130 may beselectively arranged on each data center unit 160; or some of the secondcontainers 120 may be partitioned into the precision air conditioningmodules for a heat exchange, wherein the arrangement of therefrigeration unit and the precision air conditioning modules isidentical to or substantially the same as that in the above exampleembodiment, which will not be repeated.

Based on the above description, the modular data center of the presentdisclosure adopts standard containers or steel frames having the samesize as the first containers and the second containers, and, through thedifferent sizes of the first containers and the second containers and avariety of different functional modules acquired by partitioning theplurality of first containers and the plurality of second containers,the modular data center having different capacities, different datacenter usability tiers and different server cabinet power densities maybe acquired through the combination of the first containers and thesecond containers of different quantities and with different functions,thereby providing a flexibility in use. In addition to the flexiblecapacity expansion of the modular data center in the transverse orvertical direction, the area occupied by the modular data center may bereduced.

The above description has shown and described some example embodimentsof the present disclosure. However, as previously discussed, it shouldbe understood that the description disclosed herein is not used to limitthe present disclosure and should not be considered as an exclusion ofother embodiments. The techniques of the present disclosure may be usedin various other combinations, modifications, and environments and arecapable of being amended within the scope of the invention ideasdescribed herein through the above teachings or technology or knowledgein the related field. Moreover, modifications and variations carried outby those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present disclosure shall fall within the scope of protection ofthe appended claims of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A modular data center, comprising: a plurality offirst containers that are partitioned into a plurality of informationtechnology device modules, a plurality of space maintenance modules, andat least one distribution module, the plurality of informationtechnology device modules, the plurality of space maintenance modules,and the distribution module being arranged in parallel in a widthdirection of the first containers, wherein the plurality of informationtechnology device modules, the plurality of space maintenance modules,and the distribution module which are arranged in parallel form aplurality of data center units; and a plurality of second containers,having a width identical to or substantially the same as that of thefirst containers and a length smaller than that of the first containers,that are partitioned into a plurality of passage modules, the pluralityof passage modules being arranged in parallel in the width directionamong the plurality of data center units, and being arrangedcorresponding to the plurality of first containers respectively in alength direction of the first containers, wherein interior spaces of theplurality of passage modules are connected to form a maintenancepassages among the plurality of the data center units, the maintenancepassages being connected with interior spaces of the plurality ofinformation technology device modules, the plurality of spacemaintenance modules, and the distribution module respectively.
 2. Themodular data center of claim 1, further comprising a plurality ofrefrigeration units arranged on the plurality of data center unitsrespectively.
 3. The modular data center of claim 2, wherein arespective refrigeration unit includes: an air return pipe; an airsupply pipe; and a plurality of refrigeration modules.
 4. The modulardata center of claim 3, wherein the plurality of refrigeration modulesbeing arranged at an interval on the plurality of first containers, oneend of the air return pipe being connected to an air return inlet of theplurality of refrigeration modules, the other end being connected to thetop of the plurality of first containers, one end of the air supply pipebeing connected to an air vent of the plurality of refrigerationmodules, the other end being connected to the bottom of the plurality offirst containers.
 5. The modular data center of claim 4, wherein theplurality of refrigeration modules supply cold air into the plurality offirst containers through the air supply pipe and receive hot air fromthe plurality of first containers through the air return pipe.
 6. Themodular data center of claim 1, wherein: a respective informationtechnology device module is equipped with a hot air passage and a coldair passage.
 7. The modular data center of claim 6, wherein the hot airpassage is arranged on a top of the respective information technologydevice module and is connected to the air return pipe.
 8. The modulardata center of claim 6, wherein the cold air passage is arranged on abottom of the respective information technology device module and isconnected to the air supply pipe.
 9. The modular data center of claim 1,wherein the plurality of second containers are further partitioned intoa plurality of precision air conditioning modules.
 10. The modular datacenter of claim 9, wherein the plurality of precision air conditioningmodules are arranged in parallel on the other side of the plurality ofinformation technology device modules opposite to a plurality of powersupply modules, and correspond to the plurality of informationtechnology device modules respectively.
 11. The modular data center ofclaim 10, wherein a respective power supply module is a respective firstcontainer equipped with a power device.
 12. The modular data center ofclaim 9, wherein a respective precision air conditioning module isequipped with an air vent and an air return inlet.
 13. The modular datacenter of claim 12, wherein the respective precision air conditioningmodules supplies cold air into the respective information technologydevice modules through the air vent and receives hot air from therespective information technology device modules through the air returninlet.
 14. The modular data center of claim 1, wherein: the respectiveinformation technology device module is equipped with a hot air passageand a cold air passage therein, the hot air passage being arranged on atop of the respective information technology device module and beingconnected to the air return inlet, the cold air passage being arrangedon a bottom of the respective information technology device modules andbeing connected to the air vent.
 15. The modular data center of claim 1,wherein: the plurality of space maintenance modules are arranged betweenthe plurality of information technology device modules and thedistribution module; and a fire barrier is arranged between theinformation technology device modules and the distribution module. 16.The modular data center of claim 1, wherein a respective informationtechnology device module is a respective first container equipped withan information technology device.
 17. The modular data center of claim1, wherein a respective maintenance space module is a respective firstcontainer whose interior space is not used.
 18. The modular data centerof claim 1, wherein the distribution module is a respective firstcontainer equipped with an electrical device including a transformer.19. The module data center of claim 1, wherein a respective passagemodule is a respective second container whose interior space is notused.
 20. The modular data center of claim 1, wherein a respectivemodule corresponds to a respective container equipped with one or morecorresponding devices.